Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft, #6 -- Joe Hill & Gabriel Rodriguez
And here we are at the end of the first arc.
Nina (I finally remembered Mrs. Locke's first name) and Duncan are locked in the wine cellar, Kinsey is unconscious, and Tyler's being held at gunpoint by Poor Crazypants Sam Lesser. Bode is on the loose, and needs to find the Anywhere Key and get it to Dodge before Sam kills another member of the Locke family—he can only hope that Dodge will hold up her end of the bargain.
Artwork?
Now that Nina's cane is broken, I'm curious to see if she'll replace it in the next issue, or if this last (<--well, we'll see) showdown with Sam Lesser will mark the end of her need for it.
Nice shot of Sam using the mirror to catch Tyler's attempt at the gun. He's round-the-bend crazy, but he's not stupid.
I liked Tyler's ghost-tears when he goes through Bode's ghost door. And, of course, that one shot of [SPOILER] Sam Lesser's ghost-self looking in the door.
In the Two Weeks Later epilogue, I liked that Kinsey's face is still healing, the placement of the dialogue bubbles in the reflection, and the unspoken communication between Bode and "Zack". I'm not sure if Bode knows for sure who "Zack" actually is, but he very certainly doesn't trust him. So that's good.
Storyline?
Sam mocking Tyler about his part in Mr. Locke's death was the last straw for me: because of the way this issue played out, I know he'll continue to be a presence in the story, and I'm sure I'll end up feeling sorry for him again at some point, but at the moment, WOW. Dislike.
Kinsey got to come full circle and take action this time, which will probably help assuage her guilt about hiding during the first Sam Lesser attack.
I loved Dodge's monologue when Bode brings her the key, about how of course he doesn't understand what's going on, because this story began far before he came on the scene. "Kids always think they're coming into a story at the beginning, when usually they're coming in at the end." Of course, for us as readers, it's actually Bode's beginning and Dodge's middle (I assume). Her switcheroo into a male body—her (now his) appearance on Ellie the Track Coach's door, and then insinuating himself into the Locke kids' (minus Bode's) trust—suggests that Dodge is going to be around for a good time yet to come.
Speaking of, I went back to the yearbook picture in issue three, and the student hugging Ellie—Lucas Caravaggio—looks a whole lot like Dodge's male form. And he's staring at Rendell Locke's bracelet. Which was a fabulous touch.
Keep going?
I'm going to ILL the second collection tomorrow.
Previously: